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James T. Brown .... - . '."!II 

Finance Management Division 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Ave., SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

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Re: Alameda County Transportation Commission's Action Plan in Response to FAA 

Change in Policy and Procedures Concerning the Use of Airport Revenue (79 FR 

66282-Ql ;Docket FAA-2Q.13.,0988} 

Dear·Mr .. Brown: 

Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC), a local taxing authority in 

California, has learned through the grapevine of the FAA's Change in Policy and 

Procedures Concerning th~ Use of Airport Revenue (79 FR 66282-01; Docket FAA-2013-

0988) ("FAA's Change in Policy and Procedures"). Alameda CTC never received any 

· · official notice of this change or any official information as to how the Alameda CTC 

might be affected, neither during the rulemaking process nor upon final adoption. 

We have learned that the FAA's Change in Policy and Procedures states that local 

taxing authorities should submit an action plan by December 8, 2015 providing for the 

expenditure of local sales tax revenues derived from aviation fuel on airport capital and 

operating costs, and implement the action plan by December 8, 2017. By this letter, 

Alameda CTC is responding to the FAA's Change in Policy and Procedures with the 

following action plan. 

The FAA interprets restrictions on the use of "local taxes on aviation fuel (except taxes in 

effect on December 30, 1987} in 49 U.S.C. § 47107{b) and 49 U.S.C. § 47133{a} to 

include local sales tax revenue derived from aviation fuel. The Alameda CTC 

administers a half cent transportation sales tax ("Measure B") originally approved by the 

voters of Alameda County in November 1986 and first collected in April 1987, and 

thereafter extended by voter approval in November 2000 through 2022. We believe 

that funds generated by Measure B should not be affected by the FAA Change in 

Policy and Procedures, since this tax was in effect prior to December 30, 1987. The 

Alameda CTC will also be administering the extension and augmentation of this same 

transportation sales tax beginning April 2022 through March 2045 ("Measure BB"). The 
reallocation of tax revenues. Without such an amendment. Alameda CTC would have 

no legal ability to spend the Measure BB sales tax funds on anything other than what 

was included in the original Transportation Expenditure Plan. 

Within Alameda County there are 3 public airports including·. Metropolitan Oakland 

International Airport, Hayward Executive Airport, and Livermore Municipal Airport. It 

would be very difficult for the Alameda CTC to estimate the portion of transportation 

sales tax revenues that were derived from aviation and jet fuel. Measure Band 

Measure BB sales and use taxes are collected by California State Board of Equalization 

(BOE), and then distributed to Alameda CTC. Alameda CTC does not currently have 

access to a breakdown of sales tax revenue received from aviation and jet fuel from 

the BOE, since the BOE does not ask taxpayers to provide this information at the present 

time. In addition, any estimate would be subject to volatility based on the fluctuating 

price of fuel. However, the Alameda CTC believes that the affected transportation 

sales tax revenues derived from aviation fuel in 2022 and forward on an annualized 

basis could be roughly $400,000 (in constant 2015 dollars). 

Historically, expenditures of transportation sales tax revenues by Alameda CTC and its 

predecessors on airport related projects have far exceeded the estimated amount of 

transportation sales tax revenues generated by sales of aviation fuel. These projects 

Include $121 million for the Airport Roadway Project $26 million for the 1-880 

Hegenberger Road Interchange, and $30 million for the 981h Avenue Interchange 

improvement all of which were projects designed to improve highway access to the 

Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, and over $89 million for a connector train 

system providing easier transit access between Bay Area Rapid Transit and the 

Metropolitan Oakland International Airport. The 2014 Transportation Expenditure Plan 

which supports the new Measure BB , the augmentation portion of which may be 

affected by the FAA's Change in Policy and Procedures, includes $161 million for 

countywide freight corridors including Outer Harbor lntermodal TerminaL 71h Street 

Grade Separation and Roadway Improvement, and Truck Routes serving the Port of 

Oakland, the agency which owns and operates the Metropolitan Oakland 

International Airport, along with $77.4 million designated for a freight and economic 

development program for which improvements serving the airport would be eligible. 

Over the next couple of years, Alameda CTC intends to confirm that it complies with 

the FAA Change in Policy and Procedures based on capital expenditures of impacted 
Executive Director 

Alameda County Transportation Commission 

cc: Patricia Reavey, Alameda CTC Director of Finance and Administration 

M. Zack Wasserman, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean